School in Sarwar’s constituency in a shambles

Students forced to take classes in building declared dangerous 12 years ago

TAXILA:

Students are forced to take classes in a dilapidated school building situated in the native village and constituency of Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan in tehsil Paswal.

Children at the school are compelled to study in the school even though the Punjab building department had declared the building dangerous 12 years ago.

The provincial government’s slogan of “Read Punjab, Grow Punjab”' has remained limited to only papers as far as the Paswal primary school is concerned.

The building, constructed in 1964, has not been repaired by the Punjab education department for the last 58 years.

With damaged walls and a leaky ceiling, the school building could easily pass for a haunted house and seems structurally unsound to say the least.

The school has, over the years, has not performed on the education front either, as according to locals, not a single student of the school has found a niche in the higher ranks of the society. The school building, hidden from the obvious eyes of the education department, tells the story of negligence and neglect.

The school situated in the NA-63 constituency in Taxila is comprised of four classrooms, a single verandah and two washrooms. Most students, both girls and boys, are from underprivileged families and lack the finances to study at a better school.

There are only three teachers, 68 students including 39 boys and 29 girls.

One of the two main political rivals of the area, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Ghulam Sarwar Khan, have held the portfolio of the federal minister from the constituency but they have hardly done anything for the betterment of education and school buildings at large.

When contacted Executive District Education Officer (EDEO) Azam Kashif about the dilapidated school building of the school, he said that “he would immediately ask the officers concerned to take notice of the issue and take it up immediately”.

Deputy District Officer Education (DDEO) Tahir Aziz and Assistant Education Officer (AEO) Malik Arshad visited the school after their attention was drawn towards the dilapidated school building.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Malik Arshad confessed that the Punjab building department has declared the building dangerous and had instructed to sop educational activities in the classrooms and in compliance with, “we have closed the classrooms”. He said that the repair work on the school building has been started as per the instructions of the senior officers.

Azhar Hussain Qazi, a local, said that despite the passage of 58 years, local politicians, the education department and the authorities concerned have turned a deaf ear to the abysmal condition of the school.

He said that local political leaders have always tried to close the school and demolish the building as the school is located in front of a private housing society and the society has taken stay order from the court regarding no further construction in the school.

He said that the education department also looks helpless in the face of political influence, as a result, children are forced to study in a building that looks like a haunted house.

Ishaq Abbasi, another local, said: “We request the Punjab chief minister and the prime minister Imran Khan to issue immediate orders to rebuild the school building in the same location.

He said that in the face of the weakness of the education department, local politicians will sell the school building and the land to the housing society.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2022.